The Job of Planting Trees: A Survey 



207 



where it is native, for example, attains 

 18 inches in diameter and 50 to 60 feet 

 in height in 35 years. In the Lake 

 States, it does not grow nearly so high. 



Special purposes sometimes justify 

 exceptions to the rule of native species. 



Scotch pine, which is native to west- 

 ern Europe, can be planted confidently 

 in Indiana or Ohio for Christmas trees, 

 and white spruce makes a good orna- 

 mental or windbreak in North Dakota. 



The species planted vary with re- 

 gions. On the national forests, for ex- 

 ample, slash and longleaf pines are 

 most widely planted in the Gulf States ; 

 loblolly pine in the Central Atlantic 

 Coast States; shortleaf pine in the 

 Ozarks; red, white, and jack pines and 

 white spruce in the Lake States and the 

 Northeast; Douglas-fir, Port-Orford- 

 cedar, and ponderosa pine in the Pa- 

 cific Northwest; ponderosa pine and 

 the western white pine in the Rocky 

 Mountains; and ponderosa pine and 

 Jeffrey pine in California. The same 

 species are generally planted on similar 

 State, municipal, and private lands. 



In the Great Plains region, eastern 

 redcedar and Rocky Mountain juniper 

 are the favored conifers. The boxelder, 

 green ash, American elm, hackberry, 

 the black locust, Siberian elm, honey- 

 locust, and catalpa are the most-fa- 

 vored hardwoods. 



In the Northeast, eastern white pine 

 and red pine are favored species, sup- 

 plemented by some Scotch pine, Nor- 

 way spruce, white spruce, and jack 

 pine, and small quantities of Euro- 

 pean larch and several hardwoods. 



People often ask why conifers are 

 usually planted on worn-out and aban- 

 doned farm land that once supported 

 fine hardwood forests. The answer is 

 that cropping and fires have destroyed 

 the humus that covered the old forest 

 floor, lowered soil fertility and mois- 

 ture-holding capacity, and compacted 

 the subsoil. Hence, it is usually neces- 

 sary to make the first crop conifers, 

 which build up the soil until the native 

 hardwoods gradually reestablish them- 

 selves, often from seeds brought in by 

 birds, rodents, or the wind. 



MOST PLANTATIONS are made with 

 nursery-grown seedlings. The rapid 

 first-year growth of southern pines 

 makes it possible to use seedlings 10 to 

 15 months old and as they come from 

 the beds in which they were sown. 

 Hardwoods are also planted as 1 -year- 

 old seedlings, especially in the Central 

 States and the Great Plains. Use of 

 such young stock helps keep down the 

 planting costs. 



Jack pine 2 years in the nursery bed 

 is favored in the Lake States and 

 2-year-old Douglas-fir and Port-Or- 

 ford-cedar in Oregon. 



Most other conifers are transplanted 

 at least once before they leave the nurs- 

 ery. Transplanting is the most expen- 

 sive of all nursery operations, but it 

 greatly improves hardiness and root 

 system of the seedling and thus gives 

 it a better chance to survive when 

 planted out. 



The digging, packing, and transport- 

 ing of wilding seedlings usually in- 

 volves considerable expense, quite often 

 more than the cost of an equal number 

 of nursery-grown seedlings. The mor- 

 tality sustained in transplanted wild- 

 ings is quite frequently severe. For 

 those reasons, we do not recommend 

 the use of wildings for planting. Expe- 

 rience has proved that the premium 

 stock produced under controlled nurs- 

 ery conditions to meet approved speci- 

 fications is usually less expensive than 

 seedlings secured from areas near to 

 the plantation. 



To give planted trees their best 

 chance to live and grow, some kind of 

 tilling is usually needed to remove sod 

 and brush from the planting site. 



The several kinds include scalping 

 the spots at proper intervals with a 

 mattock, plowing shallow furrows 6 to 

 8 feet apart, or using a heavy disk to 

 eliminate brush and churn up and ex- 

 pose mineral soil. On the Great Plains, 

 thorough summer fallowing of the soil 

 has been found necessary before plant- 

 ing of shelterbelt trees. In planting for 

 erosion control, gully banks must some- 

 times be plowed in, gully channels 

 dammed, and slopes mulched. Open 



